LOCKSMITHS CITED FOR CHISELING DOOR AT WRONG HOUSE POLICE

The Morning CallTHE MORNING CALL

Bethlehem Township police charged two locksmiths last week with trespassing after they tried to change the locks on the doors of a house on W. Greenwood Drive instead of on Greenwood Drive in the township.

Police were notified by a neighbor involved in the township's Crime Watch program that two men were using a hammer and chisel to chop the lock off a door of 3938 W. Greenwood Drive.

Police said they found two employees of Decora Services of Hatboro using a hammer and chisel to enter the front door. The locksmiths told police they were hired by the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society to change the locks because the house and furniture were being repossessed for non-payment of the mortgage.

Police contacted the owner of the home, William Smith, who was at work, and who informed police that he had been making monthly payments.

When police asked the locksmiths for a legal document to do the work, the men produced a work order that had the same house number on Greenwood Drive.

The men, Kevin Stein of 12 Center Ave., Willow Grove, and Matthew Ekker, 646 Serrill Drive, Hatboro, were given a citation charging them with trespassing.

Police said PSFS contacted Smith and informed him restitution would be made.